Rising Above Lowered Standards
by suspensegirl
Summary: CB 3x04 scene. Blair comes around after Chuck's love confession/lecture at the premiere, expecting and offering up distance between them for how little she had considered him in the grand scheme of things...ONESHOT


A/N: Okay, I'm gonna attempt to write this in a little over 20 minutes. I was totally and completely in love with Chuck's "I love you" speech in tonight's episode (3x04) tonight! *squeals* Therefore I am writing a mini speech about its aftermath. Blair kind of accepted Chuck's words, but she never came around and apologized for how her actions must have "insulted" him. I know, it's unlike her to apologize, but I came up with an idea of how she might've sort of done something of that nature. Please R & R, it'll probably be short. ;p

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She should've done it earlier, she knew. She should have said it right at the premier, as some sort of thank-you, some sort of proof that he meant more to her than her popularity ever good.

Sigh.

But she didn't. And he hadn't called her. And she hadn't called him. And, in reality, she didn't really think he even wanted to see her, talk to her. I mean, sure he had told her he loved her, and he did, she was 100% sure of that. She loved him too, but…that didn't mean he wasn't still mad at her.

She wouldn't want to talk to her either.

Gulp.

Her fisted hand knocked at a medium volume on the door to his suite. It opened after a minute or so and his head poked out, the door opening wider once he saw it was her.

"Blair." He was surprised, she could tell, but she told herself she could do this, and she wasn't going to let cold feet on the situation hold her back.

"Can I come in?" she offered meekly.

He nodded, tearing his gaze from her deep brown eyes, and moved to the side so she could come in. Once inside, she allowed herself to journey into the living room and plant herself on one of the couches.

"So," he began, sitting himself down across from her. "What is this about?" he looked at her mysteriously and she had to work hard to get her bearings. This was her boyfriend. This was Chuck Bass, the man she knew better than she knew anyone else, maybe even herself. She took a deep breath and her lips parted.

"I want to thank-you for what you did at the premiere. I needed that. I needed you reminding me of reality."

He nodded, trying to see where she was going with this.

"But…" she sighed, "I realize that just because you love me doesn't mean you're not mad at me for doing what I did."

His eyebrows narrowed. "Blair—"

"No—" she stopped him, knowing he would stop her if she let him, but she had to keep going. She had to get out what she needed to say. But she still avoided his gaze. Never mind that he couldn't look anywhere but at her. That only made her determinism more intense. "—I came here because I wanted you to know I'm sorry," her gaze finally drifted up to his concerned eyes. "I never meant to hurt you. You are my world, my _everything_, and I should have never gotten caught up in whatever twisted way I felt I needed to do in order to 'fit in'." She sighed, resigned, and feeling like everything she needed to say had been said. She stood to her feet and made to leave, but kept her body positioned towards him, looking like she might have one last thing to say. "I understand if you need time to be away from me," he could visibly see her holding herself back from seemingly inevitable tears. His jaw dropped ever so slightly at her ridiculous thought patterns to everything that had happened between them.

She turned to leave, but he grabbed her arm before she could get too far. "Blair, you misunderstand the point of my lecture, the point of my repeat love confession." She looked up into his pleading eyes, and let him pull her to his warm embrace. He kissed her, his forehead lingering against her own.

She breathed. "Oh Chuck."

"Blair," he kissed her softly again. "I'm not mad at you. I didn't lecture you because I was mad at you. The reason I told you all those things was to bring you back to reality." She nodded, turning her head downward, looking so very ashamed for all she had done. _He had told her he understands and she knocked it down. He had told her he loved her and she essentially dismissed it, allowing popularity be the end all of her superficial life. What a crummy girlfriend she must be._ He lifted her chin up so that her face would be reading into his again. "I love you," he hugged her, kissing the side of her neck. She smiled against him, as he squished his nose up against hers like she had done in the previous few days. "You're my everything too."

"Oh god, I love you," her fingernails dug into his clothed shoulders, as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He buried his face in her silky brunette locks.

"You sure about that?" he brought his head back to face her, and quirked his eyebrow. "Because I hear popularity's up for grabs."

She sighed, and leaned forward and kissed him. "I'm sure." He kissed her back and repeated the tender act a few times following. "You're way hotter than popularity," she said, closing off her insecurity battle for sure this time.

He smirked. "Glad to hear it. I was worried for awhile." Now her lips curved into a gentle smirk, growing wider as he slipped his arm around her waist and guided her to the front door. For a moment she thought he was trying to get rid of her, and her eyebrows fused at the thought that the conversation that just took place meant nothing.

"Don't worry, Blair, I'm not dumping you off."

Her nerves eased and she looked to him expectantly.

"Let's go out," he announced.

She was intrigued.

"Let's go do something…romantic," he finished after sufficiently searching and coming to grips with the perfect word for his particular choice of activity.

"Chuck Bass the romantic."

He smirked at her familiar words.

"Only with you, darling."

Her eyes sparkled when he looked at her, and nothing but absolute joy and anticipation ran through her at the thought of a day and an evening out with Chuck, especially with him looking at her like _that_.

Weeks later, she found herself to be occupied with a new crowd at NYU. A crowd that she could not only identify with but also equalize herself at a satisfying position. They were her new minions, only in a more gratifying sense of the word. And she was back on good terms with Chuck. Not that she had entirely been on bad terms before, but…well, things were just better now.

Things were _much_ better.

She beamed.

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A/N: Well, longer than I expected. It feels like that's almost always the case, at least with my one-shots. ;) Oh! And I remembered back to the episode. Apparently her whole "fitting in" scene at NYU happens near the end of the episode, along with that little Chuck delivery. Heheh. So I had to make this more of an in-between/hidden type scene, instead of a post episode scene. ;p Though…if I'm wrong again, I may have to adjust things. Lol. Anyways, please review! =D


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